They say timing is everything. One of the casualties of movie theaters being closed, due to the Coronavirus, was the comedy The Lovebirds. Lucky for them, Netflix picked up the flick from Paramount and it has debuted on the streaming giant. For the millions who are stuck at home seeking something to take your mind off of the headlines, the Kumail Nanjiani and Issa Rae flick could not have better timing.
The comedically astute pair portray a couple who are on the outs after losing their way and forgetting what it is that initially drew them together. As they are heading to a friend’s dinner party, the two hit a man on a bicycle and before they can digest what just occurred, someone claiming to be a police officer hijacks their car and promptly runs over the fellow … several times. Then, he gets out of the car and walks away. Nanjiani’s Jibran and Rae’s Leilani jet out of their car to check on the man and at that very moment two folks enter the frame and, obviously, assume that our Lovebirds committed murder.
Think they’ll stick around?
Nope, as teased in The Lovebirds trailer, they run. Now our couple is on the run and they believe their only hope in surviving this horrorshow and avoiding jail is to solve the crime themselves before cuffs are placed on hands and rights are read.
Rae (fresh off her stellar turn in The Photograph) and Nanjiani are comedic gold together. Sometimes an actor and an actress just have “it” in a rom-com-like setting and it doesn’t matter exactly what crazy situation they find themselves. That’s because there is an inherent joy that is gleaned from the experience of witnessing two talents’ comedic chemistry pop off the charts. After all, it is called a sit-com … where the “sit” stands for situational and The Lovebirds is exactly that. It is a situational comedy as opposed to a romantic comedy. Sure, one could predict that nothing bonds people together like a crisis and their mutual feelings may just return to affection instead of constantly clashing.
It doesn’t matter. The plot is serviceable and yes, there are multiple times when the murder and crime-solving aspects are a stretch (to say the least). Yet as soon as one is tempted to roll ones’ eyes, the blissful joy of Nanjiani and Rae collective comedic charm arrives and we’re LOLing. Don’t want to give anything away, but don’t be surprised if hours after the credits roll on The Lovebirds, you find yourself busting out in laughter over something one or both of these two did over the course of the taut 87 minutes of director Michael Showalter’s latest flick.
The helmer and Nanjiani have history and it shows. Showalter directed the actor in his semi-autobiographical hit film The Big Sick. He knows when to put the plot pedal to the metal and when to let his lead actor riff. This film is a whole lot less intricate and emotively powerful, as is expected given the two vastly different subject matters. Nanjiani seems to have been everywhere since he and his wife Emily V. Gordon’s Oscar-nominated screenplay gave us one of the best films of 2017. Earlier this year, the comic starred with Dave Bautista in the mostly hilarious Stuber and he made headlines when a photo of the newly jacked actor appeared on social media (he had been training for his role in Marvel’s The Eternals.) The Pakistani-born actor is firmly in his comfort zone in The Lovebirds. This kind of role in this type of film fits him like a glove. He keenly knows not to take himself too seriously in his portrayal of a New Orleans-based documentary filmmaker whose spicy relationship has been more bland than bodacious.
Right there with him is Rae. The actress, who first garnered our attention in the criminally overlooked The Hate U Give in 2018 and last year’s Little—opposite Regina Hall. She has proven to be incredibly versatile, effortlessly moving between genres and mediums. There is something about her that the camera just adores. Actors and actresses with a whole lot less command of their craft may have made witnessing the Netflix comedy difficult. Watching her and Nanjiani come together in some otherwise ridiculous circumstances is a generally joyous affair. In fact, their pairing reminds of the gold that is produced whenever Kevin Hart and the aforementioned Hall star together, as they did in About Last Night. After having them make us laugh so prolifically, one may be included to dream of these two always starring together as a couple!
The Lovebirds is the rare comedy that doesn’t need a supporting ensemble to help carry the comedic or plot-moving load. The two leads are in practically every scene. That is as it should be with this particular flick. Although, there is a scene-stealing moment that arrives from a veteran of Pitch Perfect, Anna Camp. She portrays Edie, a politician’s wife who finds herself playing a pivotal role in a potential scandal that may or may not lie at the heart of why that guy on the bicycle was run over in the first place.
The script was penned by Aaron Abrams and Brendan Gall, from a story by the two-plus Martin Gero (Bored to Death). It doesn’t break any new ground. Repeatedly, it is predictable and many of the “mystery” aspects of the crime at the heart of the cinematic situational comedy just do not add up. It doesn’t matter. During these trying times where uncertainty rules the day and tens of millions are out of work and exponentially more have perished from a virus, light-centric entertainment is exactly what the doctor should be ordering. With glorious and humorous turns from its two leads—who share excitingly electrical comedic chemistry—and a seasoned helmer who expertly knows how not to push the boundaries on a fun film such as this (i.e. having it drag on beyond the 90-minute perfect comedy mark), The Lovebirds is right at your fingertips this holiday weekend. The Movie Mensch recommends you turn on Netflix and press play.
Grade: B